Cruz Azul visits Santos Laguna on Thursday, at the start of the Liga MX final

Club Santos snatched a championship from the Cement Machine in the Clausura 2008. The Laguneros are one of the best teams of the 21st century with five league titles

Photo: PEDRO PARDO / AFP / Getty Images

Liga MX confirmed the schedule for the final between Cruz Azul and Santos Laguna for the Clausura Tournament 2021. After two semifinal series with a high level of football and tactics, blues and lagoons will give their all to reach the championship.

The Machine directed by the Peruvian coach, Juan Reynoso, will seek break the curse that has condemned the institution to 23 years without winning a league title . After performing a flawless regular round, in which they reached the 41 points and equaled the record for the highest number of consecutive victories , the cement producers aspire to put the icing on the cake by defeating Club Santos.

Programming of the final series

Cruz Azul will visit Santos in the first match of the series on Thursday and will receive it on Sunday in the return match at the Azteca stadium.

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The technical director of the Machine confesses that the spectacular regular tournament will do nothing if it fails to win the championship.

Since he beat the Lion in the final of the winter tournament of 1997, Cruz Azul has lost six league finals , some of a not very credible way like the Clausura 2013, in which he was two goals ahead with less than five minutes remaining, he hesitantly backed down, was tied and lost on penalties.

One of the six lost finals was that of Closure 2008 , against Santos, one of the best teams of the 20th century with five titles League.

The road to the final

The celestial eliminated Toluca in the fourth quarter by a margin of 4-3 Y in the semifinals they left Pachuca out 1-0 , while Santos gave the note by leaving the favorite Monterrey out in the best eight phase , which they beat 3-2, and beat Puebla in the semifinals, by a 3-1 margin.

Although the media mention Cruz Azul as a favorite, the final looks even. The Blues show balance in all their lines and a lethal attack led by Uruguayan Jonathan Rodríguez , but Santos is going through a good time and will seek to make a difference in the attack with the Mexican Eduardo Aguirre and the Ecuadorian Ayrton Preciado.